Potion Commotion
"Potion Commotion" is the 11th episode of season one of Wizards of Waverly Place, and the 11th of the overall series. It first aired on February 10, 2008. Overview Justin wants to be chosen for the World School Summit at the U.N., but he faces tough competition from popular classmate Brad, whom Alex is infatuated with. Alex plans to use a love potion to make Brad fall in love with her and also to help Justin sabotage his meeting. But she accidentally drinks both halves of the love potion, causing her to fall in love with herself! Meanwhile, Max gets his full powers and must wear a goofy hat to control them while they settle in, but due to Alex drinking both halves of the potion, she also needs the hat to avoid getting a big head. Summary Justin wants to be chosen for the World School Summit at the U.N. and tells Alex about it, but he faces tough competition from a popular classmate Brad Sherwood, whom Alex happens to be infatuated with. Alex plans to become his girlfriend on their next date. Justin and Alex enter the lair where Max is trying a beginner's wizarding lesson: levitating a soda can. Max tries and fails; Jerry tells him to keep at it. Meanwhile, Justin and Alex are on a much more advanced lesson. (They both smirk at Max for that.) Jerry introduces it to them: potions that change emotions. He shares an anger potion with Justin, and they start yelling at each other about how proud they are of each other. The next day, Max comes downstairs feeling unwell and sneezes; he promptly levitates to the ceiling. His dad tells him his full powers are here, so now he's going to have an easier time in the wizard competition—but unfortunately, he has to wear "the hat." Max is confused, so Jerry explains that it's a special hat Max has to wear for a few days until his powers settle down. Max refuses to wear the ugly hat, but Alex tells him to get used to it. Justin, Alex, and Max go downstairs, and Max removes the hat out of distaste. Suddenly it starts snowing inside, and Brad, who is outside, notices. Justin tells Max to replace the hat so that it doesn't snow and he obliges. Outside, Brad tells them he saw what happened; they claim it's dandruff instead. He insists, but Alex tries to distract him by flirting and talking about the concert. Her flirting fails, but she gets Brad to massage her neck anyway, but while he does, he mentions he won't be going to the park Saturday, because that's the day of the World Summit. Alex expresses her surprise that he's not going, and Justin expresses his own surprise that Brad thinks he can win by sucking up and not doing any work. Brad contradicts this and flatters Justin before leaving, which only makes Justin angry. At school, Mr. Laritate compliments Justin on his essay but reminds him there's still the home interview. Just then Brad comes up and asks about the brownies he made for Mr. Laritate, who answers that he loves them and that Brad remembered not to include nuts; Brad just shrugs this off as false modesty. Mr. Laritate, however, compliments Brad on his compassion and they leave together. Justin approaches Alex at her locker and grudgingly admits that apparently Mr. Laritate really does care more about flattery. Alex doesn't really care and changes the subject to the concert. Justin accuses her of being self-centered, but she tells him that if she succeeds in her plan, Brad will drop out of the race and Justin will be the automatic selection for the World Summit. Justin expresses his surprise that they're apparently on the same side now. Alex reveals her plan: she'll split a love potion with Brad so they'll go to the concert together. Justin reminds her that they shouldn't use magic unsupervised; Alex contends that they'll supervise each other, and Justin accepts that for now. Justin and Alex get back to the Sub Station and Alex prepares the love potion and drinks her half. She tries to get Brad to drink the other half, but a series of close calls ensues and several customers almost drink the other half. In her distraction, she accidentally drinks the second half of the potion, causing her to fall in love with... herself. She compliments herself and her head inflates. They go upstairs to the loft to discuss ways to fix the problem. Justin decides he's better off flying solo now that Alex looks abnormal, and she admits she was being stupid for what she did. Her head then shrinks, and Justin concludes that it changes size according to how she talks about herself: her head grows if it's positive and shrinks if it's negative. She can't think of anything negative so Justin decides to help her. At school, Max continues to wear the hat and people laugh at him. This irritates him and he takes it off, causing lockers to open and shut seemingly on their own. Justin makes him put the hat back on and just then Brad and Mr. Laritate come in and discuss Brad's home interview. Justin reminds Mr. Laritate that they still have an appointment together. Brad tries to get Mr. Laritate to ignore this by flattering him on their way out, angering Justin. Alex opens her locker and pretends to be surprised at the flowers she left herself. At home, Justin is waiting for the interview and hands his siblings cheat sheets about his accomplishments so they can brag to Mr. Laritate for him. Alex says hers would be longer than this, and Justin gives her another cheat sheet to keep her humble. Mr. Laritate shows up then and he and they introduce themselves to one another. The interview begins and Mr. Laritate poses a problem to Justin, but Alex interrupts and gives a self-centered answer, causing her head to inflate. Justin distracts Mr. Laritate with his trophy and switches the magic hat to Alex's head. She objects to this just as the doorbell rings. It's Brad, there to show off in front of Mr. Laritate some more. He sits down on the couch and butts in on the interview, showing off his bolo tie. Justin curses himself for forgetting his own bolo tie. Jerry replaces the hat on Max's head, but then Alex's head inflates, so he puts it back and asks what happened. She tries to make an excuse, but Jerry guesses the truth, that she drank both halves of a potion. She confesses, but claims no real damage was done; Jerry disagrees. Max suddenly desires Chinese food. He hiccups and the loft transports to China, where a couple of waiters deliver a meal. Jerry and his other two kids step outside to discuss this, and then the loft moves to Hawaii because Max changed his mind. Mr. Laritate doesn't realize anything unusual is happening, and compliments Justin on his ability to treat him to food from all over the world, and chooses him for the summit. Justin's excited he won; Brad, however, is upset he lost, and lets slip that he didn't really care about his bolo tie or about Alex. Alex tells Brad she's no longer interested in him, and won't be going to the concert with him, even though he's now available, because she's a "prize." Her head grows, and Brad gets weirded out and leaves. Justin asks how long they have to put up with Alex's bigheadedness, and Jerry says maybe a few weeks, but then deflates her head by popping her ear and letting all the air out. Later, the loft gets filled with flowers Alex bought herself. Justin asks if the spell didn't wear off, but she just says she enjoyed giving herself flowers, for who would be kinder to her than herself? Justin agrees. Magic Spells Levitation spell *Incantation: Levitatus Liquidatus *Description: The ability to levitate liquids. Potions *'Emotion Potions' — potions that make you have emotions. *'Motion Potions' — potions that make you move quicker or slower. Production Notes Continuity *This is the first time that it's shown that there is a 'flash' in the freezer before it turns into the lair. *Jerry says Max is on Wizard Lesson #5, and Alex and Justin are both on Lesson #372. *We learn that it takes a few days for a wizard's powers to first settle in. *Written as achievements on a cheat-sheet Justin created, Alex mentions that Justin rode a pony by himself when he was nine, and Max says that Justin knows all the words to almost all of U2's songs. *Justin has a second-grade soccer trophy for participation. *Jerry grows cilantro out on the terrace. *Brad vows to find out what's so strange about the Russos, but he is never seen or mentioned again. Goofs *''Possible Error'': Jerry asks Alex to give Max "The Hat", and she uses magic to do it. It can be assumed that Justin gave Alex the hat, but who gave Justin the hat when he needed it? Jerry may have already had it and given it to Justin. Alex probably used magic to give Max "The Hat" because she was too lazy to get it herself. *If Mr. Laritate is the principal of the kids' school, then why did Theresa introduce Alex and Max to him? Trivia *The title is possibly a parody of Jeff Beck's album "Emotion & Commotion". *Mr. Laritate's first appearance. Cast Main Cast *Selena Gomez as Alex Russo *David Henrie as Justin Russo *Jake T. Austin as Max Russo *Maria Canals Barrera as Theresa Russo *David DeLuise as Jerry Russo Guest Starring *Bill Chott as Mr. Laritate *Shane Lyons as Brad Sherwood Co Starring *Martin Magdaleno as Dorky Kid *Unica Luna as Hula Dancer #1 *Anissa Morris as Hula Dancer #2 *Amanda Panoke as Hula Dancer #3 Category: Season 1 Category:Episodes